Art
Artprice100©: The Art Market’s Blue-chip Artists Yield Nearly as Much as the Top Performing Companies in the American Economy

thierry Ehrmann, Artprice’s founder/CEO, highlights the art market’s excellent performance in H1 2019: “A collector who, at the start of this year, invested in the 100 most successful artists of the last five years (2014-2018), would already be looking at a value accretion of almost a sixth in the value of his/her portfolio.”
The Artprice100 © index gained +16% over the first half of 2019 while the S&P 500 added +18% over the same period. The similarity in the performances between the American financial markets and a portfolio of works by the world’s top performing artists (defined in a purely objective manner) proves the undeniable attractiveness of the Art Market as an alternative investment.
Fewer transactions
The performance of the Artprice100© over the first half of 2019 was driven by exceptionally strong demand, barely satisfied by supply. The supply/demand imbalance, generated a rapid increase in value, particularly on works by the 100 top performing artists on the global secondary art market.
The turnover slowdown recorded in H1 2019 by major auction houses, including Sotheby’s (-9%) and Christie’s (-28%), reflects a less dynamic high-end market than in previous years. However, prices have shown no signs of fatigue and the contraction in the volume of sales is a reminder that the art market is directly dependent on the number of works in circulation.
In a financial context of sustained negative or near-zero refinancing rates, some collectors are probably preferring to hold certain artworks and not cash in on investments that remain highly competitive. Moreover, the persistence of extremely high transaction costs, both in galleries and in auction rooms, is discouraging short holding periods (under five years), and tempting some collectors to consider private transactions as an alternative.
The Artprice100© index driven by Warhol, Zao Wou-Ki and Wu Guanzhong
Heavily weighted in our Artprice100© index with 9.1% of the portfolio, Pablo Picasso has not contributed to its value accretion for several years. As we have seen over the last four years, his prices contracted -2% in the first half of 2019.
However, Andy Warhol, Fu Baoshi, Zao Wou-Ki and particularly Wu Guanzhong have all clearly enjoyed value accretion, providing the main thrust for the progression of our Artprice100© index in H1 2019. Without setting any new auction records, these artists have all enjoyed strong price inflation. The sale of major works by these artists will no doubt confirm the trend.
On 2 June last, a large drawing by Wu Guanzhong entitled Lion grove garden (1988) fetched $20.8 million at China Guardian. It was previously acquired for $17.8 million on 3 June 2011 at Poly Beijing. Adding 17% over the last eight years, the drawing generated, in financial terms, an average annual return of +1.9%. However, another Guanzhong resale suggests that the bulk of the value accretion on his works has occurred in the last 6 months: an important Guanzhong work entitled Two Swallows was purchased for $7.1 million on 3 June 2011 (at the same sale as Lion grove garden) and fetched $7.8 million in December 2018, an increase of just +9.8%.
Paul Cézanne and George Condo
Investments in Modern artists carry the least risk and demand for their work is continuing to grow steadily offering attractive returns over the long term. Claude Monet and Paul Signac have both signed new auction records this year. Similarly, 2019 is already proving to be a superb year (the best since 2000) for Paul Cézanne. His painting Bouilloire et fruits (c. 1888-90), acquired for $29.5 million in 1999, fetched $59.3 million on 13 May 2019 at Christie’s New York, generating an average annual ROI of 3.6% over 20 years.
At the other end of the spectrum, Contemporary artists offer striking returns in the medium and short term. The most spectacular entry into the composition of the Artprice100© index this year is undoubtedly George Condo. The American artist enjoyed a massive secondary market success in 2018with 78 paintings and 34 drawings selling for more than $63 million, and on three continents (America, Europe and Asia)! The Condo phenomenon has been clearly illustrated by a number of rapid resales of small works including Soft Green Abstraction (1983), which was purchased for $17,000 in April 2017 in Munich and resold a year later in New York for $46,000.
In total, there were seven changes this year in the composition of the Artprice 100© index.
In |
Out |
George Condo |
Huang Binhong |
Giorgio Morandi |
Huang Zhou |
Robert Motherwell |
Anish Kapoor |
Jean Paul Riopelle |
Li Keran |
Rufino Tamayo |
Xu Beihong |
Frank Auerbach |
Pieter Brueghel II |
Hans Arp |
Giorgio de Chirico |
Four women… and two Old Masters
Unfortunately, we see no change regarding female artists. This year again, only four of the artists in the Artprice100© are women: Yayoi Kusama (Japan), Joan Mitchell (US), Louise Bourgeois (France) and Barbara Hepworth (UK). Yayoi Kusamanow represents 1.3% of the index compared with 0.9% last year. Her price index rose 20% in H1 2019.
The relegation of Pieter Brueghel II for reasons relating to market liquidity has exacerbated the rarity of Old Masters in the index. Numerically, the composition of the index is dominated by Modern artists, numbering 49, followed by Post-War artists (29), Contemporary artists (12), 19th century artists (8) and lastly… Old Masters (only 2).
Composition of Artprice100© index for H1 2019
Artist – Share – Period
- Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973) – 9.1% – Modern
- Andy WARHOL (1928-1987) – 6.4% – Post-War
- Claude MONET (1840-1926) – 4.5% – 19th Century
- QI Baishi (1864-1957) – 3.9% – Modern
- Jean-Michel BASQUIAT (1960-1988) – 3.7% – Contemporary
- Gerhard RICHTER (b. 1932) – 3.3% – Post-War
- ZAO Wou-Ki (1921-2013) – 2.9% – Post-War
- FU Baoshi (1904-1965) – 2.5% – Modern
- Alberto GIACOMETTI (1901-1966) – 2.4% – Modern
- Amedeo MODIGLIANI (1884-1920) – 2.2% – Modern
- Cy TWOMBLY (1928-2011) – 2.2% – Post-War
- WU Guanzhong (1919-2010) – 2.1% – Modern
- Roy LICHTENSTEIN (1923-1997) – 2.0% – Post-War
- Lucio FONTANA (1899-1968) – 1.9% – Modern
- Alexander CALDER (1898-1976) – 1.8% – Modern
- Marc CHAGALL (1887-1985) – 1.8% – Modern
- Joan MIRO (1893-1983) – 1.7% – Modern
- Willem DE KOONING (1904-1997) – 1.7% – Modern
- Henri MATISSE (1869-1954) – 1.5% – Modern
- Fernand LÉGER (1881-1955) – 1.4% – Modern
- Christopher WOOL (b. 1955) 1.4% – Contemporary
- Yayoi KUSAMA (b. 1929) – 1.3% – Post-War
- Jean DUBUFFET (1901-1985) – 1.3% – Modern
- René MAGRITTE (1898-1967) – 1.2% – Modern
- Peter DOIG (b. 1959) – 1.2% – Contemporary
- Wassily KANDINSKY (1866-1944) – 1.2% – Modern
- Jeff KOONS (b. 1955) – 1.2% – Contemporary
- David HOCKNEY (b. 1937) – 1.1% – Post-War
- Henry MOORE (1898-1986) – 1.0% – Modern
- LIN Fengmian (1900-1991) – 0.9% – Modern
- CHU Teh-Chun (1920-2014) – 0.9% – Post-War
- Paul GAUGUIN (1848-1903) – 0.9% – 19th Century
- Pierre-Auguste RENOIR (1841-1919) – 0.8% – 19th Century
- SAN Yu (1895-1966) – 0.8% – Modern
- Richard PRINCE (b. 1949) – 0.8% – Contemporary
- Sigmar POLKE (1941-2010) – 0.7% – Post-War
- Joan MITCHELL (1926-1992) – 0.7% – Post-War
- PU Ru (1896-1963) – 0.7% – Modern
- Auguste RODIN (1840-1917) – 0.7% – 19th Century
- Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917) – 0.7% – 19th Century
- Paul CÉZANNE (1839-1906) – 0.7% – 19th Century
- Yves KLEIN (1928-1962) – 0.6% – Post-War
- Camille PISSARRO (1830-1903) – 0.6% – 19th Century
- Richard DIEBENKORN (1922-1993) – 0.6% – Post-War
- Ed RUSCHA (b. 1937) – 0.6% – Post-War
- Keith HARING (1958-1990) – 0.5% – Contemporary
- Martin KIPPENBERGER (1953-1997) – 0.5% – Contemporary
- Louise BOURGEOIS (1911-2010) – 0.5% – Modern
- Alberto BURRI (1915-1995) – 0.5% – Modern
- Frank STELLA (b. 1936) – 0.5% – Post-War
- Damien HIRST (b. 1965) – 0.4% – Contemporary
- Egon SCHIELE (1890-1918) – 0.4% – Modern
- Ernst Ludwig KIRCHNER (1880-1938) – 0.4% – Modern
- Georges BRAQUE (1882-1963) – 0.4% – Modern
- Georg BASELITZ (b. 1938) – 0.4% – Post-War
- Pierre SOULAGES (b. 1919) – 0.4% – Modern
- Juan GRIS (1887-1927) – 0.4% – Modern
- Salvador DALI (1904-1989) – 0.4% – Modern
- Edvard MUNCH (1863-1944) – 0.4% – Modern
- Paul SIGNAC (1863-1935) – 0.4% – Modern
- DONG Qichang (1555-1636) – 0.4% – Old Master
- Fernando BOTERO (b. 1932) – 0.4% – Post-War
- WEN Zhengming (1470-1559) – 0.4% – Old Master
- George CONDO (b. 1957) – 0.4% – Contemporary
- Sam FRANCIS (1923-1994) – 0.4% – Post-War
- Alighiero BOETTI (1940-1994) – 0.4% – Post-War
- Bernard BUFFET (1928-1999) – 0.4% – Post-War
- Max ERNST (1891-1976) – 0.4% – Modern
- Robert RAUSCHENBERG (1925-2008) – 0.4% – Post-War
- CHEN Yifei (1946-2005) – 0.3% – Contemporary
- Maurice DE VLAMINCK (1876-1958) – 0.3% – Modern
- Barbara HEPWORTH (1903-1975) – 0.3% – Modern
- Pierre BONNARD (1867-1947) – 0.3% – Modern
- Donald JUDD (1928-1994) – 0.3% – Post-War
- Max BECKMANN (1884-1950) – 0.3% – Modern
- Tsuguharu FOUJITA (1886-1968) – 0.3% – Modern
- Alfred SISLEY (1839-1899) – 0.3% – 19th Century
- Laurence Stephen LOWRY (1887-1976) – 0.3% – Modern
- Morton Wayne THIEBAUD (b. 1920) – 0.3% – Post-War
- Nicolas de STAËL (1914-1955) – 0.3% – Modern
- Enrico CASTELLANI (1930-2017) – 0.3% – Post-War
- Anselm KIEFER (b. 1945) – 0.3% – Contemporary
- Michelangelo PISTOLETTO (b. 1933) – 0.3% – Post-War
- GUAN Liang (1900-1986) – 0.3% – Modern
- Kees VAN DONGEN (1877-1968) – 0.3% – Modern
- Francis PICABIA (1879-1953) – 0.3% – Modern
- Piero MANZONI (1933-1963) – 0.3% – Post-War
- Tom WESSELMANN (1931-2004) – 0.3% – Post-War
- Giorgio MORANDI (1890-1964) – 0.3% – Modern
- Günther UECKER (b. 1930) – 0.2% – Post-War
- Josef ALBERS (1888-1976) – 0.2% – Modern
- Robert MOTHERWELL (1915-1991) – 0.2% – Modern
- Rufino TAMAYO (1899-1991) – 0.2% – Modern
- Hans ARP (1886-1966) – 0.2% – Modern
- Emil NOLDE (1867-1956) – 0.2% – Modern
- Paul KLEE (1879-1940) – 0.2% – Modern
- Jean-Paul RIOPELLE (1923-2002) – 0.2% – Post-War
- Alexej VON JAWLENSKY (1864-1941) – 0.2% – Modern
- Albert OEHLEN (b. 1954) – 0.2% – Contemporary
- Frank AUERBACH (b. 1931) – 0.2% – Post-War
SOURCE Artprice.com
Art
The Guggenheim, the Louvre, the Pompidou Center and now ArtMarket all Possess a “.art” Generic Top-level Domain (gTLD)

thierry Ehrmann: “We are also very pleased to inform shareholders and investors that we now possess artmarket.art, which has already been deployed by our IT department. This acquisition involved several quarters of intense legal and administrative red tape with the ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) and the TMCH (TradeMark ClearingHouse).
This is the same strategy adopted by all of the world’s major art institutions, including the Guggenheim, the Louvre and the Pompidou Center, along with an impressive list of museums that have played a key role in art history.
Since our press release Artprice.com is changing its name to Artmarket.com to become a global player in the Art Market posted on July 9, 2019 (follow this link:https://www.actusnews.com/fr/ARTPRICE/cp/2019/07/09/artprice_com-is-changing-its-name-to-artmarket_com-to-become-a-global-player-in-the-art-market) our Investor Relations department has received numerous questions from shareholders and institutions regarding the domain names we possess and our marketing position vis-à-vis Artprice.
This brief statement is intended to answer these questions. To achieve the getting of this extension .art, Artprice had to comply with a battery of draconian ICANN tests, including the requirement of owning our brand (without which applications to the ICANN are rejected). The “Sunrise Period” of domain registration is now over, so no further surprises are expected.”
A generic top-level domain (gTLD) is a type of top-level domain (TLD) maintained by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) for use in the Internet’s domain name system.
A TLD is the extension at the end of a website address. In this case, “dot art” (.art) is a major asset for the key players in the art market. The ICANN, the organization that oversees Internet domain names, has developed draconian mechanisms to protect rights on new extensions and to preclude hacking risks.
However, this type of protection comes at a high price. In the digital economy, .art represents a powerful search-engine marketing tool to capture an even broader global audience. Concrete operational examples are louvre.art, guggemheim.art and centrepompidou.art.
thierry Ehrmann: “You don’t need an MBA to understand that this global network will inevitably contribute to our notoriety and the growth of our customer base.”
Very few groups like ours have a legal and IT department dedicated to the global watch of their brands and domain names. For our shareholders, this watch represents a guarantee and a very high level of legal security.”
thierry Ehrmann: “Artmarket.com is now the group’s flagship as we project our know-how, our content and our brands into the global market in a way no other entity operating on the Art Market can do. The new name will take full advantage of the natural indexing by global search engines of any content relating to the term “art market”.
Artprice.com shareholders will very shortly be invited to an EGM (within the legal deadlines) to approve this name change.
The Artprice brand – which has enjoyed global recognition for over 20 years – will remain the reference brand name for Artmarket.com in its highly profitable art prices /indices databanks activity.
After approval, shareholders of Artprice.com on Euronext will automatically become shareholders of Artmarket.com without any impact on the number of shares held or their attached rights.
English is the language most used by the art market all over the world.
Searches using the term “art market” on Google.com give Artmarket.com as the top result out of 3.6 billion results (Judicial Officer’s Report, SCP Pons-Mergui). By comparison, a search on Google.com using “Artprice” produces 2.5 million results, with, of course, artprice.com in first place.
To answer the questions we are currently receiving in all transparency, we acknowledge our legal possession of the domain names, artmarket.net, .org and .eu (.eu being the gTLD for Europe) as well as art-market.com, art-market.net and art-market.org which we acquired to preclude cybersquatting (the practice of registering a domain name corresponding to a trademark with the intention of subsequently reselling it to the trademark at a high price).
thierry Ehrmann: “Some new complementary and decisive information will be communicated in the Q2 release on the EGM (Extraordinary General Meeting) retroplanning which will endorse the change of artprice.com name to artmarket.com adding the new strategy artmarket.com to become a global player of the Art Market.”
SOURCE Artprice.com
Art
Artprice: The “Toulouse Caravaggio” Acquired Privately

The public sale was scheduled for Thursday, 27 June at 18:00, Toulouse time. According to the Sale Conditions, anyone interested in acquiring the painting had to “register as a bidder at least 15 days before the sale.” As thierry Ehrmann explains, that meant that since 13 June at the very least, all the potential bidders were known to the sellers. And, as Julius Caesar would have said… the die is now thrown.
Because… no less than 48 hours before the public sale was due to take place, the sale has been cancelled! A private transaction has been concluded. “An offer that we had no choice but to communicate to the owners of the painting,” says the official statement which provides a very concise explanation: “The fact that the offer comes from a collector with close connections to a major museum convinced the sellers to accept it.”
This is undoubtedly a very happy ending for everyone involved, not to mention the sellers the art expert who discovered the work, Eric Turquin, and auctioneer Marc Labarbe. The undisclosed amount apparently readily confirms that the work is indeed an authentic Caravaggio, and the buyer, anonymous, but close enough to the world’s most prestigious museums, is apparently committed to ensuring painting will very soon be exhibited in one of the planet’s top museums. It could be any museum in the world… except the Louvre, which turned its back on the painting… “An attitude that, for me personally, was difficult to digest,” confessed Eric Turquin to the French magazine Le Point. The official statement says: “Purchased by a foreign collector, [the painting] will leave France.” Its ultimate destination was the sellers’ second biggest concern, after its sale price of course… Otherwise a deal would certainly have been struck directly with a major museum.
From the sellers’ point of view, this is the best possible outcome. In terms of transparency, it’s a total and singular reversal of the situation. The sellers promised a “authentic” public sale, i.e. a sale that was 100% public, with no reserve price and broadcast live on internet so that everyone and anyone could participate in the auction. The final price was going to allow the Market to decide on the painting’s authenticity… but the curtain has fallen even before it went up… and the amount of the transaction will remain forever confidential.
Last Monday, on 17 June, Sotheby’s announced its withdrawal from the public sphere. A week later, the most anticipated work of the year has suddenly done more or less the same. For Artprice, the two cases strongly suggest that the Art Market is seeking a certain discretion. In the sales catalogue, Eric Turquin thanked his collaborators: “I wish to thank my expert colleagues, the restorers, the framers, the bankers, the insurers, the photographers and the transporters, etc. who have scrupulously respected their professional confidentiality obligations and allowed us to work in a calm and collected manner.”
After five years of work, research and determination, “this painting will go to one of the best museums in the world. And for me that was essential,” concludes Eric Turquin.
Given the importance of this work in art historical terms, Artprice promises to track the reappearance of this painting – a painting that, as of today, no longer needs to be referred to as the “The Toulouse Caravaggio” – and to shed as much light as possible on this private sale, concluded just hours before an auction that had all the makings of a truly historic event. Artprice’s consistent and long-standing efforts to bring transparency to the Art Market are more than ever justified.
SOURCE Artprice.com
Art
NUO Hotel Beijing Launches Theme Desert During the “Picasso – Birth of a Genius” Exhibition in Beijing

As the strategic partner of UCCA, NUO Hotel Beijing is launching the jointly-created theme dessert during the exhibition period of “Picasso – Birth of a Genius” in Beijing.
Jasmine Peach Cake
Inspired by Picasso’s artistic genius, the main dessert has a rich fruit flavour and white chocolate mousse filling, together with edible homemade cookie brushes and jam paint on the palette, giving you a warm and fun-filled colourful afternoon.
The dessert is available from 15 June to 1 September 2019 at Lobby Lounge.
Art is part of NUO’s DNA. Upon entering the hotel, you can immediately feel the artistic ambience and discover bespoke and exquisite art works of different styles created by many of China’s prominent and upcoming artists. Be ready to be inspired by art at every turn!
To coincide with the 55th anniversary of the establishment of China–France diplomatic relations, “Picasso – Birth of a Genius”–the most significant exhibition of work by Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) ever to take place in China-will be presented at UCCA between 15 June and 1 September 2019. The exhibition, which offers a comprehensive overview of the first three decades of Picasso’s career, is drawn from the collection of the Musee national Picasso-Paris. There are 103 works in total, including paintings, sculptures and works on paper, etc.
Taken together, these works realised between 1893 and 1921, tell the story of the creative formation and evolution of the most daring, original, and prolific talent in the history of modern art. The exhibition, curated by Emilia Philippot, curator of the Musee national Picasso-Paris, has been conceived and organised specifically for this presentation at UCCA and in China.
The three decades under consideration here were a period of artistic discovery and ferment for the young Picasso, whose style underwent numerous changes, from the academic realism of his student days to this post-war return to classical style after the great Cubist adventure; from the alternately somber and carnivalesque motifs of the Blue and Rose periods to the primitivist-explorations which ultimately led to the multiple phases of Cubism. Accordingly, while reaffirming the coexistence of several seemingly contradictory languages in Picasso’s works, the exhibition will put some artworks from the artist’s personal collection into dialogue with his own productions, thereby highlighting the painter’s affinities with the works of his predecessors or contemporaries.
“For UCCA, this exhibition marks the realisation of a dream we have held since our opening in 2007, to present not only recent developments in contemporary art but to examine the very underpinnings of the contemporary by showing modern masters,” remarked Philip Tinari, UCCA Director and Chief Executive Officer. “We believe that the story of Picasso is relevant to our audience in China, as individuals here continue to answer the challenges of creativity, originality, and innovation.”
For the Musee national Picasso-Paris, the exhibition marks the most substantive presentation of its collection in China to date, and the first since Laurent Le Bon assumed the directorship in 2014. He “is pleased with this new stage in the international cooperation policy led by the Musee national Picasso-Paris.”
Located close to the 798 Art District and as the strategic partner of UCCA, NUO Hotel Beijing is appointed to provide exclusive accommodation for distinguished VIP guests and the opening VIP dinner of the exhibition, and a dedicated theme dessert has been created jointly with UCCA to commemorate the grand occasion.
SOURCE NUO Hotel Beijing
-
Business Wire7 days ago
The Best JBL Cyber Monday Deals (2019): Top JBL Flip & Charge Bluetooth Speaker Sales Compared by Spending Lab
-
Business Wire7 days ago
Cyber Monday Chromebook Deals 2019: All The Best Google, Samsung, Acer, Asus & HP Chromebook Deals Rounded Up by Retail Egg
-
Business Wire7 days ago
PSVR, Oculus Rift & HTC Vive VR Headset Cyber Monday Deals for 2019. VR Headset Savings Compared by Save Bubble
-
Business Wire7 days ago
DJI Drone Cyber Monday 2019 Deals (DJI Mavic 2, Air, Mini, Phantom, Spark) Listed by Deal Answers
-
Business Wire6 days ago
Ryan Acquires SALT Payroll Consultants, Expands Human Capital Tax Practice
-
Business Wire7 days ago
Compare Nespresso Cyber Monday 2019 Deals: Best Nespresso Coffee Machine Savings Identified by Save Bubble
-
Business Wire7 days ago
The Best iPod Touch Cyber Monday Deals (2019): Apple iPod Touch, Nano & Shuffle Sales Listed by Spending Lab
-
Business Wire7 days ago
Sonos Cyber Monday 2019 Deals: Sonos Beam, One, Playbar, Play:1 & Play:5 Speaker & Soundbar Savings Researched by The Consumer Post